RNC "census" mailer offers phone sex number

By JONATHAN MARTIN

04/01/2010 11:15 AM EDT

A new entrant in the when-it-rains-it-pours category.

The Republican National Committee sent a fundraising mail piece earlier this month with a return number that leads to a phone-sex line offering "live, one-on-one talk with a nasty girl who will do anything you want for just $2.99 per minute."

At the bottom of a piece designed to resemble a census form, a toll-free number is listed next to the national party's address.

A voter in Minnesota received the mailer and called the number intending to complain about the attempt to raise money with a form that looks like a government document.

But the Minnesotan was instead directed to a second toll-free number that greets callers as "sexy guy" before offering them the chance to talk with "real local students, housewives and working girls from all over the country."

The individual then forwarded the mail piece to the voter's congressman, a Democrat, who shared it with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

A spokesman for the RNC declined to say how many copies of the census-style mailer were sent out.

"The number in question was a typographical error by a vendor used on this particular mailer — using 1-800 instead of 202," said RNC Communications Director Doug Heye.

Heye e-mailed different direct-mail pieces that included the correct RNC phone number, writing: "This is an isolated incident and will not be repeated in the future."

He said the vendor responsible for the mistake "will not be used for the foreseeable future."

Audio of the call here, for the more prurient-minded. And, no, it's not safe for work.